Contested races develop for Poplar Bluff council, all Butler County school districts

Contested races have developed for Poplar Bluff City Council and in all three Butler County school districts.

Election filing for school and city positions closed Tuesday. The election will be held April 2.

City of Poplar Bluff

Three positions are open for Poplar Bluff City Council, in wards 2 and 4, with a three-year term each, and an at-large position for an unexpired two-year term.

Incumbent Shane Cornman has filed for his Ward 4 seat, to which he was first elected in 2018.

Current seat holder Billy DePew, the first person to file Tuesday morning at city hall, is seeking the remainder of the at-large term. DePew was appointed by the council earlier this year, after Robert Duckett resigned due to personal reasons.

Three candidates have filed for the Ward 2 seat, David Boyer, Mack Campbell and Marty Paskel.

Ward 2 incumbent Jerrica Fox has said she will not seek re-election. Fox was elected to the Ward 2 seat in 2021, and had previously served as an at-large representative.

She said prior to the opening of filing that it was time to step down but that she planned to continue to be active in the community.

School boards

Poplar Bluff

The Poplar Bluff R-I School District has two open seats: those of board members Tim Gaebler and Ken Davis, who is president. Both have filed for re-election. Also seeking the seats are Heather Rommel, Jamie Hickson and Curtis Fouts.

Each position serves a three-year term. The current filing order is Gaebler, Rommel, Hickson, Davis and Fouts.

Neelyville

Neelyville R-IV has five open seats due to resignations earlier this year. These seats are currently held by appointees until the April election.

Candidates prior to Christmas were incumbent Jim Hover; appointees John French, Lesley Thomas, Gene Russom, and Jack Stull; and newcomers Marco Gavino, Tracee Stotts and Matthew Marshall.

Voters will fill two three-year seats, two two-year seats, and a single one-year seat.

Russom and Hover both filed for three-year terms. Stull and French will run against Gavino, Stotts and Marshall for two-year terms, and Thomas had filed for a one-year term.

As of the final day of filing the following candidates had withdrawn: Thomas from the one-year term, Marshall from the two-year term and French from the two-year term.

Marshall has signed up for the one-year term.

The term lengths will be divided into different propositions on the ballot.

The current order of filing is Russom, Gavino, French, Hover, Stull, Stotts and Marshall.

Twin Rivers

There are two upcoming vacancies on the Twin Rivers R-X school board, and two candidates.

Monica King Woole, Jerry Whitlow and Keith Parker have tossed their hats in the race, but neither is an incumbent. Neither current office holders Keith Parker nor Jenny Hester have filed, according to staff at Twin Rivers Central Office.

Reporting for this article came from staff writers Donna Farley, Samantha Tucker and Barbara Ann Horton.